Engineer Seth Firkins, Dead at 36

By Clive Young. Seth Firkins, a mainstay of the Atlanta hip-hop recording community, died in his sleep Saturday, September 23; he was 36. Over the course of his career, Firkins worked with the likes of Future, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Young Thug, Gucci Mane, Zoey Dollaz and many others.

New York, NY (September 26, 2017)—Seth Firkins, a mainstay of the Atlanta recording community, died in his sleep Saturday, September 23; he was 36. Over the course of his career, Firkins worked with the likes of Future, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Young Thug, Gucci Mane, Zoey Dollaz and many others.

Born in Louisville, KY, Firkins started out in live sound, talking friends in the band Element H into letting him take on their FOH mix though he had no experience. Developing his mixing ears while on the road with the group, he got a taste of the recording life while working in a Nashville studio with the band, discovering that had a knack for it. Once their tour was completed, Firkins went to work at Head First Media in Louisville in 2003, and soon after started his own studio.

Moving to Atlanta in 2006, he formed 5X5 Media Group and built another facility, picking up notable recording credits along the way, including work on Jay-Z’s 2008 set, American Gangster, and Rihanna’s Unapologetic, before going on to become the main studio engineer for Future in the early 2010s.

Numerous artists took to social media to remember Firkins, including Future, who wrote on Instagram, "I always gave racism a cold shoulder because my real brother Is a white guy by the name of Seth Firkins...I love u beyond this post, I will cherish u forever big bro, I just wish u would've text me & told me u was going to sleep and i wasn't going to be able to wake u up this time..."